Discrete one-forms on meshes and applications to 3D mesh parameterization

  • Authors:
  • Steven J. Gortler;Craig Gotsman;Dylan Thurston

  • Affiliations:
  • Computer Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA;Computer Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA;Mathematics Department, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

  • Venue:
  • Computer Aided Geometric Design
  • Year:
  • 2006

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

We describe how some simple properties of discrete one-forms directly relate to some old and new results concerning the parameterization of 3D mesh data. Our first result is an easy proof of Tutte's celebrated "spring-embedding" theorem for planar graphs, which is widely used for parameterizing meshes with the topology of a disk as a planar embedding with a convex boundary. Our second result generalizes the first, dealing with the case where the mesh contains multiple boundaries, which are free to be non-convex in the embedding. We characterize when it is still possible to achieve an embedding, despite these boundaries being non-convex. The third result is an analogous embedding theorem for meshes with genus 1 (topologically equivalent to the torus). Applications of these results to the parameterization of meshes with disk and toroidal topologies are demonstrated. Extensions to higher genus meshes are discussed.